


Nobody Will Break You (I'm Here)

by Aston (AstonT)



Series: Life In Color [5]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Karma is a good friend, Nagisa is stubborn, Physical Abuse, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 05:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10379283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstonT/pseuds/Aston
Summary: "If your heart wears thin, I will hold you up and I will hide you when it gets too much. I'll be right beside you." - Beside You, Marianas TrenchNagisa has been keeping secrets, and when they start to come out, nobody's quite sure how to handle it.Karma's just sick of seeing his friend hurt.It's scary, sometimes, just how much a smile can hide.





	

Everyone in the class had a few different ways of telling what sort of mood their classmates were in.

Call it a precaution, but it was one that was worth having.

After all, training to be assassins came with a lot of wariness about things, and though they may all be kids, they were also all wary about betrayal.

But Nagisa was the one that was best at observation. He kept notes on his classmates.

The only one who did the same to him was Karma.

It was almost funny to everyone else. Karma and Nagisa had a similar tell when they were being consumed by blood lust - their smiles mirrored one another perfectly when it happened.

But Karma stayed smiling like that quite a bit of the time, and Nagisa smiled a lot as well.

So they had to work on pinpointing when that smile changed for Nagisa and when Karma's smile wasn't teasing and actually promised danger.

Either way, they were unhinged in a way that the others weren't, and they were well aware that that could be good or bad.

It was almost scary, honestly.

But then, there's also the fake smiles that Karma had called Nagisa out on before - usually early in the morning before everyone was functioning correctly.

So, looking back on what they knew, why was it that their knowledge was so limited about their two classmates? They didn't exactly try to hide anything from the others - it had long ago became clear that they didn't care for their tells to be so open.

But it was a pattern, they noticed.

And so, when Nagisa showed up late to school one day - weird in and of itself, he was never late - looking a mess with his hair torn half down and bruising on his face, the entire class fell silent.

He gave an easy smile in greeting, moving to take his seat.

Nobody missed Karma's eyes following him.

* * *

"Did she do this to you?" Karma asked at lunch, having pulled Nagisa away from everyone else and settled into fixing the boy's hair back to normal.

"It's nothing, Karma,"

Karma glanced away from his work on the boy's hair to focus on his expression. Then he huffed and spoke. "Don't say that. It's something. You're bruised,"

Nagisa didn't argue with him, and a few of their classmates threw worried looks to the two boys.

Korosensei kept to himself about the entire ordeal, but he took note of the worry on the others' faces.

* * *

It happened again two weeks later, and Karma didn't wait until lunch this time to pull Nagisa around to fix his hair and take note of the bruising along the blue haired boy's cheek, down the side of his neck.

"What happened?" he asked calmly, his tone different from any that his classmates had heard before.

Nagisa huffed, but didn't answer, so Karma let it go.

Nobody pressed about it, though some of the girls did their best to help hide the bruises.

None of the teachers knew what to do - they didn't know the situation, and both Nagisa and Karma were staying tight lipped about it.

Come lunch, Karma pulled Nagisa outside to talk away from the others, away from curious ears and pitying eyes.

"I told you, you can't take her abuse like this."

Nagisa glanced at Karma before shrugging. "It doesn't matter,"

Karma's eyes went dark upon hearing that and his smile disappeared. He reached out and grabbed Nagisa's wrist in a bruising grip, giving an amused huff when Nagisa fought back and got his arm free.

"You won't take my abuse, so why would you take hers?"

"Because I don't want to hurt her, Karma!"

Karma kept his eyes locked on Nagisa as he spoke, voice calm. "She's hurting you, Nagisa."

No argument came, because they both knew it was the truth.

After a moment, Karma spoke again, looking away from the blue haired boy. "I won't allow anyone to hurt you. Even if it means I have to kill them,"

That startled Nagisa, honestly. But he didn't fight.

After a moment, Karma stood and left Nagisa sitting outside alone with his thoughts.

"Is he okay?" Sugino asked worriedly once the red head entered the classroom again.

Karma looked over at him before he huffed and spoke. "I don't know," he admitted, looking towards the window. He could clearly see Nagisa - curled in on himself, head down, shoulders shaking. But he didn't point any of it out to the others. "He will be if he isn't now."

And they all believed him.

* * *

Nagisa didn't come back in with bruises again, not for a while at least.

Instead, he came in with his head low, a strange occurrence.

Karma knew what was causing it, but he kept it to himself.

None of them questioned Nagisa about it, figuring if it was important, he'd bring it up.

He never did.

* * *

When Nagisa next came in hurt, it was worse than the others had seen before - hair a mess, something that was normal, but there were bruises everywhere and a split lip capped it all off.

Karma stared at him for a long moment before he stood up from his own seat and spoke. "Sit," he snapped, pointing to the boy's seat and digging through his own bag for a first aid kit he'd taken to keeping on him.

Nagisa didn't argue against him, letting the red haired male take care of what he could.

But Karma didn't stop at this. Not this time.

"She's going to pay for this," he said, his tone cold but with a pleasant smile showing. "She'll die for this."

It sent a shiver through the room, and nobody knew who he was talking about.

Nagisa raised his eyes to Karma's before he shook his head.

"Why not? It's what'll happen to you if she keeps up,"

Nagisa held his gaze for a long moment before he spoke. "Because it's nothing I can't handle."

Karma sat back on his heels for a moment before he nodded and pulled a small notebook out of his blazer pocket, flipping it open and handing it to Nagisa. "Every injury, mental and physical, she has dealt to you since I've known you. And I know I missed plenty." he said with a shrug. "If you can handle it, why is this still happening?"

Nagisa looked at the list before he looked away.

"I'm done with your excuse about not wanting to hurt her." Karma decided after a beat of silence.

Nobody moved for a long while, and Karma stood up, looking to their teachers before looking back at Nagisa.

He knew that they knew what was going on by now.

"Why won't you listen?"

The quiet hurt radiating from Nagisa's words surprised everyone, Karma included.

The red haired male met his gaze for a long moment before he sighed. "I've heard you. I've listened. Why won't you feel how wrong this is?"

Nagisa responded with his traditional smile. "I have,"

* * *

None of them got any work done that day, and nobody ever offered an explanation. 

Come lunch, they were all tired of the game they were all playing.

"So, what's your plan?" Karma asked as soon as lunch was announced.

Nagisa shook his head. "Stick it out until graduation," he said with a shrug. "Either way this ends, after graduation, it's over."

Karma understood what he was saying even if nobody else did - he'd stood up for himself. That's why it was so bad this time.

* * *

Looking back at everything, they'd all learned something. A smile could hide a lot. 

So much that it was terrifying, more so than anything else they could face.

But then, it was also scary to watch someone who'd been so strong and smiled through the pain break when he thought he was alone.

It was scary to watch Karma - mischievous, smart ass, hide-your-emotions Karma go out and wrap Nagisa up in a hug with concern playing in his smile for a change.

And it hurt to know that none of them had seen the signs before now.

They hadn't seen the pain in his smile despite how closely they'd taken to watching the emotions filtering through with it to get a read on his emotions.

Karma rested his head atop Nagisa's as the other boy cried into his chest, mercury eyes landing on everyone else in the class, one by one.

He didn't blame them, and neither did Nagisa.

He gave them a calm smile, one that wasn't as sharp as his usual one.

They heard what he said to Nagisa after a particularly harsh sob.

"It's alright, nobody's gonna hurt you,"

And they believed him.

After all, they'd have to go through all of them before they could even get to Karma, much less Nagisa.

* * *

They never got a conclusive answer as to how to read either of the boys. 

But they gained a new level of respect for both of them.

Karma for his understanding, his emotional side that he kept hidden away that came out when it was someone close to him hurting.

And Nagisa for his strength to keep going despite being so downtrodden by someone who was seemingly so close to him.

They never found out who it was.

Honestly, the two who knew liked it that way, because it gave them a safety net.

He never came in with bruises again, and if he ever came in looking even mildly upset, things were fixed almost immediately with a smile as assurance that he just needed a minute to think and he'd be fine.


End file.
